PRTG Manual: Report Settings

In the PRTG web interface, click Reports in the main menu bar to show the reports main screen. Click a report's name to select it. Use the various report tabs to access all functionalities and settings for the selected report.

Report Tabs

Click Go to all reports at the bottom of the page to return to the list of all Reports.

This documentation refers to the PRTG System Administrator user accessing the PRTG web interface on a master node. If you use other user accounts, interfaces, or nodes, you might not see all of the options in the way described here. If you use a cluster installation, note that failover nodes are read-only by default.

Run Now

On the Run Now tab, you can execute a report immediately with the settings that you configured before.

Enter a meaningful name to identify this report. The name of the report is used in reports lists and as headline of generated reports.

Tags

Enter one or more tags, separated by space or comma. For example, you can use tags later to search for the report. Tags are not case sensitive.

It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with round parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

Template

Select a template for the report. The template defines the overall look of your report and in which detail (interval) the report shows monitoring data. PRTG includes several report templates out of the box. You can choose from templates in the following categories:

Data Table Only: Create a report with data tables only. Choose from several intervals. Reports with this template also generate data files (CSV and XML) if set in the Data Files section of the report.

Graph with Data Table: Create a report with graphs and data table. Choose from several intervals. Reports with this template also generate data files (CSV and XML) if set in the Data Files section of the report.

List of Sensors: Create a report in a compact sensor list style. This is available with and without graphs. Reports with this template cannot generate data files (neither CSV nor XML)

Top 100 Highest and Lowest: Create a report with up to 100 objects with the highest and lowest average values. Choose from different intervals. Reports with this template cannot generate data files (neither CSV nor XML)

Top 10 Uptime/Downtime: Create a report with up to 10 objects with the highest uptime and downtime each. You can choose between data in percent and hours. Reports with this template cannot generate data files (neither CSV nor XML)

Top 100 Uptime/Downtime: Create a report with up to 100 objects with the highest uptime and downtime each. You can choose between data in percent and hours. Reports with this template cannot generate data files (neither CSV nor XML)

Monitoring data within an interval is averaged. See also the comment on data averaging in the Reports (Automatic Averaging) section.

Security Context

Define the user account that you want to use for access to your monitoring data. The report only contains objects that the selected user is allowed to view.

Choose a PRTG user from the list. The available users depend on your configuration. By default, this is the user that created the report. PRTG System Administrator users can change this setting.

Timezone

Define the time zone to use for all date-specific settings in this report (see below). Choose a time zone from the list.

Paper Size

Define the paper size in which PDF reports are created. Choose between:

None: Do not specify a paper format. The size is set automatically.

A4: Use German DIN A4 format.

A3: Use DIN A3 format.

A2: Use DIN A2 format.

Legal: Use North American legal paper format.

Letter: Use North American letter paper format.

Ledger: Use North American ledger paper format.

Orientation

Define the page orientation for the data in PDF reports. Choose between:

Portrait: Use portrait mode for the page orientation.

Landscape: Use landscape mode for the page orientation. The landscape format is designed to properly show data tables of sensors with many channels. Other parts of the report will remain in portrait mode and do not re-size to the landscape format.

Sensors ("What sensors will be included in the report?")

Cluster Node

This field is only visible when you run PRTG in Clustering mode. Define the cluster node from which the report will take monitoring data. Choose a cluster node from the list. The available options are specific to your configuration.

By default, the current master node is set. Select All nodes to create a report with data from all of your cluster nodes.

A report for all nodes includes data of the primary sensor channels only, not for other sensor channels. Be careful with big reports for all nodes because the report generation may slow down significantly.

If you select a failover node, report and data files will not show data from the local probe or from a remote probe and might be empty or show "0" values.

You can generate CSV and XML data files only for a single failover node. If you choose the option All nodes, the report will not create data files!

Add Sensors Manually

If you want to manually choose the sensors included in this report, please save settings and switch to the Select Sensors Manually tab.

Include Sensors by Tag

Define the sensors included in this report by tag. Enter one or more tags. The report covers all sensors that have at least one of the tags. Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

You can also use plus (must have) and minus (must not have) signs to categorize tags, for example, +snmp;–wmi (must have the tag snmp and must not have the tag wmi). See the section Tags for details.

Tags are inherited automatically. So, for example, if you enter the tag of a group here, the report will include all sensors within this group. For detailed information, see the Inheritance of Settings section. For sensors you add by tag, the report includes all sensor channels automatically, except if you run a PRTG cluster and select All nodes in the Cluster Node selection above.

Filter Included Sensors by Tag

Filter the included sensors further. This option works best in combination with manually added groups and devices. From the sensors that are implicitly added because of their parent objects, the report includes only the ones with the tags you enter here.

Enter one or more tags to include sensors in the report. Confirm a tag with enter, space, or comma key. Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

You can also use plus (must have) and minus (must not have) signs to categorize tags, for example, +snmp;–wmi (must have the tag snmp and must not have the tag wmi). See the section Tags for details.

Schedule

Report Schedule

Define at which time you want to run the report. Choose between:

No schedule (run interactive/on-demand only): Only use the options on the Run Now tab to start generating this report manually.

Every full hour: Run this report every 60 minutes.

Every day at a specific hour: Run this report every 24 hours.

Every specific day of a week: Run this report every 7 days. Specify the day below.

Every specific day of a month: Run this report on a specific day every month. Specify below.

The day after a quarter has finished (i.e. on 1. April for the 1. January - 31. March Quarter): Run this report for every quarter of the year.

Every specific date: Run this report on a specific date every year. Specify below.

Specify Hour

This setting is only visible if you select a specific hour above. From the list, select the hour at which you want to run the report. PRTG automatically chooses a suitable time within this hour, usually at the beginning of it.

Specify Day

This setting is only visible if you select the day of week or day of month option above. From the list, select a day of week or a date of the month you want to run the report.

If you select Last, the report will always run on the last day of the month, regardless of how many days the month has. If you select a date that does not exist in every month, for example, February 31st , PRTG will automatically run the report on the last day of this month.

Specify Date

This setting is only visible if you select the specific date option above. Enter a valid date in the format DD.MM., for example, 31.12. The report runs annually on this date.

Scheduled Processing

This setting is only visible if you select one of the schedule options above. Define what to do with a finished report. Choose between:

Save report to disk and send it by email: Create a PDF file and, depending on the Data Files setting, data files of the report, store it, and send it via email. You find the report in your emails and on the Stored Reports tab. Define an email address below.

Save report to disk only: Create a PDF file and, depending on the Data Files setting, data files of the report and store it. Once finished, you find them on the Stored Reports tab. You receive also a ToDo ticket from PRTG. By default, PRTG sends out a notification email to the administrator in this case.

Send report by email only: Create a PDF file and, depending on the Data Files setting, data files of the report and send them via email once finished. With this option the report is not permanently stored in PRTG. Define an email address below.

Certain special characters, for example, 4-byte unicode characters, may not be displayed correctly in PDF reports. As workaround, generate an HTML report and save it as PDF.

Email Address

This setting is only visible if you select a send by email option above. Enter a valid email address to which PRTG sends the report. To enter more addresses, separate them by comma. PRTG sends a message with all recipients in the "To" field of the email.

This setting is only visible if you select a send by email option above. From the list, choose a user group to send an email with the report to all members of this group. You can edit user groups in System Administration—User Groups.

If you define individual email addresses (see field above) and a user group, PRTG will send the report to the individual email addresses as well as to the members of the selected user group. In both cases, PRTG will send one message with all recipients in the "To" field of the email.

Compression

This setting is only visible if you select a send by email option above. Define if PRTG will compress the attached report files before sending them out. Choose between:

Send files uncompressed (default): PRTG sends the report files by email in their original size.

Send all in one ZIP file: PRTG will compress the report files to a ZIP file before they are sent by email.

Period

Reported Period

Define the time span the report covers. Choose between:

Current: Use monitoring data of the current period. Define the period type below.

Previous: Use monitoring data of the last period. Define the period type below.

Report Period Type

Define the type of period you want to create a report for. Choose between:

Day

Week

Month

Quarter (January-March, April-June, etc.)

Year

Depending on your selection, different period selections are shown below.

Day Period

This setting is only visible if you select Day above. Define the hours when a day starts and ends. Choose from the list of hours. Default setting is 0:00-23:59.

Week Period

This setting is only visible if you select Week above. Define when the week starts and ends. Choose between:

Monday-Sunday: A reported week starts on Monday.

Saturday-Friday: A reported week starts on Saturday.

Sunday-Saturday: A reported week starts on Sunday.

Month Period

This setting is only visible if you select Month above. Define when the month starts and ends. Choose between:

1.-last day: A reported month starts on the first and ends on last of the month.

15.-14.: A reported month starts on 15th and ends on 14th of the month.

Year Period

This setting is only visible if you select Year above. Define when the year starts and ends. Choose between:

1/1-12/31: A reported year starts on January 1st.

7/1-6/30: A reported year starts on July 1st.

Report only for specific hours-of-day (Schedule)

Include certain time spans within the defined period only. If a schedule is selected, the report will include only monitoring data for specified hours or weekdays within the defined period. Select None to include all available monitoring data in the report, or choose a schedule.

For example, select the schedule Weekdays to exclude all weekends from the report. The available schedules depend on your configuration.

Define if you want to include an additional percentile calculation of your data in the report. Choose between:

Do not show percentiles: PRTG does not use a percentile formula to calculate your monitoring results. It will show only the standard values.

Show percentiles: PRTG adds a column to the result data tables that shows percentiles for every sensor channel.

Percentiles are not available for all report templates. If a template does not support percentiles, they will simply not show up in the report, even if you enable this setting.

Likewise, percentiles are not available in a cluster setup if you choose the option All Nodes in the Cluster Node setting in the sensor section above.

Percentile Type

This setting is only visible if you select Show percentiles above. Enter the percentile type you want PRTG to use for the calculation. If you choose, for example, to calculate the 95th percentile, enter "95" here and 5 % of peak values will be discarded.

Please enter an integer value.

Percentile Average Interval

This setting is only visible if you select Show percentiles above. Enter a value to define the averaging interval on which PRTG bases the percentile calculation. The default value is 300 seconds (5 minutes). This means that PRTG takes 5 minute averages as basic values for the percentile calculation. Please enter an integer value.

Percentile Mode

This setting is only visible if you select Show percentiles above. Choose the mode for percentile calculation:

Discrete: PRTG takes discrete values to calculate percentile results.

Continuous: PRTG interpolates between discrete values and bases the calculation on interpolated values.

Data Files

CSV / XML Files

Define if you want to generate CSV and XML files for data tables in the report in addition to the PDF. Choose between:

Do not include data files: PRTG will not generate CSV or XML files for the report but only a PDF file.

Include CSV files only (available for templates with data tables): PRTG will generate and store CSV files in addition to the PDF. CSV data files are only generated if the report uses a template with data tables.

Include XML files only (available for templates with data tables): PRTG will generate and store XML files in addition to the PDF. XML data files are only generated if the report uses a template with data tables.

Include all data files (available for templates with data tables): PRTG will generate and store CSV and XML files in addition to the PDF. CSV and XML data files are only generated if the report uses a template with data tables.

If you run PRTG in a cluster, the report will not generate data files if you select All nodes in the sensors selection above. Please specify a single failover node to get data files.

Report Comments

Introductory Comment

Enter your custom text that will show up on top of the first page of your report. Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

Final Comment

Enter your custom text that will show up below the last data table or graph on the last page of your report. Please enter a string or leave the field empty.

Access Rights

User Group Access

Define which user group(s) will have access to the object that you are editing. A table with user groups and rights is shown; it contains all user groups from your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following access rights:

Inherited: Use the settings of the parent object.

None: Users in this group cannot see or edit the object. The object does not show up in lists.

Read: Users in this group can see the object and review its settings.

Write: Users in this group can see the object, as well as review and edit its settings. However, they cannot edit access rights settings.

Full: Users in this group can see the object, as well as review and edit its settings as well as edit access rights.

Save your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu, all changes to the settings will be lost!

Select Sensors Manually

Click the Select Sensors Manually tab to manually choose sensors that you want to include in the report. You see a split screen: On the left side, there is a list of objects that the report already contains (empty in the beginning), and on the right side, you see your device tree, like on the Management tab in the device tree. You can add objects to the report using drag and drop.

Manual Selection for Reports

Add ItemsFrom the device tree on the right side, drag objects and drop them on the list on the left side. You can add entire probes, groups, devices, or single sensors. Each dropped object is added as a new list item. Repeat this procedure as often as you wish until you have added all desired items to the report.The objects you drop on the left side are always added to the end of the list, you cannot add objects directly in another order.

Select Sensor ChannelsIf you add a sensor to the selection, you can specify the sensor channels that the report will include. By default, all channels are selected. To exclude a channel from the report, remove the check mark in front of a channel name.If you run a PRTG cluster, you can only choose between single channels if you select one specific Cluster Node in the report settings. If you select All nodes in the report's Cluster Node setting, the channel selection is not available and the report contains only the primary channel of each sensor.

Change OrderYou can change the order of manually selected objects on the left side with drag and drop. Each item you add appears at the end of the list by default. To change the order, point to the drag and drop symbol (two arrows) in the upper-right corner of a selected item, drag it to the desired position, and drop it there.

RemoveTo remove any objects from the report, click the trash can symbol next the respective list item, or select several list items while holding down the Ctrl key and clicking a trash can symbol.

Your selection is saved automatically. There is no undo function. The final report will include both sensors selected manually and those selected by tag.

Permanently exclude a sensor channel from reports: To avoid a reselection of channels when you change the object order, permanently exclude unwanted channels from the report.

Save and the channel will not appear in the object selection nor in reports anymore. Note that the channel will also not appear in any other graphs or data tables using this option.

You have to choose both hide options to not show a channel in the sensor selection of a report.

Sensors Selected by Tag

Click the Sensors Selected by Tag tab to view all sensors that are added to the report depending on the Include Sensors by Tag setting of the report. In the table list, you see all sensors that you added to the report by their respective tags. This is for your information only, you cannot change sensors here.

However, you can switch to the Settings tab of the report and change the tags that the report uses to include sensors. Additionally, you can also exclude sensors with certain tags there. The final report will include both sensors selected manually and those selected by tag.

For sensors that you add by tag, all sensor channels are included in the report automatically, except you use a PRTG cluster and select All nodes in the Cluster Node selection of the report. In this case, the report includes only the primary channel of each sensor.

The final report will include both sensors selected manually and those selected by tag.

Comments

On the Comments tab you can enter free text for each object. You can use this function for documentation purposes or to leave information for other users.

Save your settings. If you change tabs or use the main menu, all changes to the settings will be lost!